Positively Influential

The Old New America

Since that night in November 2016, our world has been an interesting place to reside in. We’ve seen every group, creed, orientation, belief system and culture insulted and defamed, we’ve watched as the country has been brought to its hyperbolic knees. But more interesting still is that for Black people the hard truth is nothing was going to change no matter who won. Our response must be just as strong under a “Nasty Woman” presidency as it is under the ” Agent Orange administration. As a nation and as a people, we have failed King’s Dream and bought into an brand used to sell Americana as Coca-Cola, Teen Heart Throbs, Sweetheats and Muscle Cars. We, the average person of African descent, bought into the idea that we overcame and that the sequel to “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” would be “Guess Who Came in Through the Front Door”. Foolishly, we were soothed into an infantile slumber during the 8 years of the Barack Obama Administration. And love him or not we spent most of that time defending him just as we do rooting for random Black contestants on game shows, cheering when the court finds the white guy guilty of a crime on a minority or finding ways to buck the system of Supremacy we live in. In truth, we are exhausted, we have been fighting for 8 years and the best choice we had was derailed by his own party, #FreeBernie. As such we sat back and watched in horror but with no surprise as our New Commander In Chief took office, lied about EVERYTHING and now before he has reached 100 days is already on his way to having serious charges push him out of office. It’s almost like he watched every Presidential scandal and said “Oh my turn, let’s start with. Greatest hits and finish with major espionage”. However, our responsibility as the descents of those brought by force to live in bondage has not changed, we are America’s conscious. To paraphrase George Dubya “Being a conscious is hardwork”.

The Indigenous peoples and the descendants African Slaves are the needed constant reminder of America’s unatoned sins. We are the embodiment of all the wrong that was done in the name of Manifest Destiny. We’ve experienced the worst of humanity from slavery, through Reconstruction into Civil Rights and now we come to Black Lives Matter. We are survivors, the embodiment and the reminder that we come from hearty, strong, unstoppable stock and have constantly weathered the repeated blows against our person, our community and against our culture. But the question existing is how do we move forward with all that Trump has normalized with his presence and his selections for his cabinet. Riddle me this, a sitting US President employs White Nationalists not only as a part of his cabinet but as his Chief of Staff, let that sink in. The war on immigration is the first front because the first rule in White Supremacy is they are the problem not us. Sadly, White Supremacy and nationalism can’t be battled with war but with laws and the dedication and vigilance of our people to ensure those laws are protected and enacted.

So what is the next move for so called “Black America”? Honestly, we must do as Frederick Douglas directed centuries ago, “Agitate, agitate, agitate”. We must stand outside to vote in every election like they’re selling Jordan’s or Playstations and X-Boxes in a 3 for 1 fire sale. We must teach our children that education is beyond cool. And we must fight to ensure that they don’t have to go into debt to be educated and successful. We must use the system to correct the system. Vote in legislators who can amend those laws that make for the people, for some people. We must work and stay woke. However, since the 1970s we have gotten lazy, distracted and disinterested with our own struggle. We have children who are being taught by a system designed against their uplift that we marched a few times Dr. King said he had a dream, we sang “We Shall Overcome” and abracadabra Lincoln ended slavery, yes in that order. Now is the time to band together to seek to correct the missed opportunities and absences cause by the Crack Epidemic of the 1970s and 1980s. We must recognize and mourn the generations we’ve missed and then reclaim and uplift the generations we have. We must re-energize our push, not just tie it like a spare wagon to causes of other but demand that ours be heard, received and retribution be paid, we must push past King’s Dream to our summit. It is time we demand arrears for even Germany reminds their people of the legal atrocities committed at their doorsteps and pays handsomely for the sins committed. The original sins of America’s forefathers still sit in our Constitution without an Amendment to correct it. Our government remains a relic of the first FUBU and is represented as such. The election of Donald John Trump did nothing to change our past or present however our actions here will define how we move and survive for our future.